Friday, October 1, 2010

{TP Roll Halloween Brag Book}

Yes, you read the title right. TP, as in toilet paper. I made the above brag book out of toilet paper rolls. Crazy, huh? A couple of months ago my daughter Kylie was surfing the web for new album ideas and she found someone who made these little albums. She made the most adorable one for a friend and I fell in love with it and the idea. I've wanted to make one ever since.

I'm not sure I've ever said this, but I am a Bo Bunny-a-holic. I love all things Bo Bunny. I think they are an amazing company who get's today's crafter and makes a product that is loveable, useable and reasonable. A few weeks back, I bought the Bo Bunny WHOO-LIGANS line. It's been sitting on the corner of my scrap desk just staring me down and waiting to see what I will create with all of it! °Ü° I do have plans for it, but I thought it would make the perfect little TP album given that I wouldn't be using a ton of it.

So, I gathered it all together, and my TP rolls, 5 of them. First, I took the rolls and flattened them out really good.

Don't worry if they aren't totally flat, because as you can see from the pic they don't go completely flat until you paint them. I didn't get any pics of that part of the process, but I just took some black acrylic paint and and brushed it on each roll, first one side letting it dry and then the other. Once they were completely dry, I smashed them flat and they cooperated!

Now that that part was over with, it was time for the fun part... creating! Here's a look at all the pages:

The Back cover

Once I got all of my pages done, I created 5 tags, one for each roll. They slide right into the open ends of the album. I love that!♥

So that's it! Like I said in the post below, I would have never thought of using TP rolls to create an album, but how great is it to ScrapGREEN? I ♥ it! Plus, it's an easy and fast project. Took me about 4 hours, but now that I know what I am doing, I am pretty sure that I can get the next one done in under 3.

So, let me know what you think about it; Weird? Crazy? Cute? Would you make one? I'd love to hear what you think!

Amanda, brag books are simply small scrapbooks that you can carry with you and show to others to "Brag" about your kids, family, pets, babies, grandkids... etc! Anything that can fit into a purse, I consider a "brag book"!

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A Little About Me

Hello! My name is Carla. I am a wife to a wonderful man and mother to two beautiful daughters and two adorable fur babies. I have always loved taking photos and creating a special place for them to be cherished and shared. In my childhood and teen years, it was my journals that played host to my early scrapbooks. I really started to work on my craft in 1999 and there has been no slowing down since then. Scrapbooking is very therapeutic for me and gives me a chance to express "Carla" in ways I couldn't do otherwise. This blog is where you can see a little of what I create. I hope that you are inspired by all that you see here. I welcome questions and comments, so please feel free to drop me a note on my posts, or you can contact me via email. I ♥ hearing from you! °Ü°

My Followers ROCK Big Time!

Understanding the Cost of Custom Work:

I get emails for custom work all the time. I would say, that on a weekly basis, I get at least 8-10 emails requesting specific themes. I love hearing from everyone and truthfully, I am honored that there are so many of you who love my designs, style of scrap booking and work so much that you would love to make it apart of their memory albums. The part I find frustrating and sometimes hurtful, is that when I reply to these emails and give pricing, one of three things happens: 1) I never hear back from the person 2) I get an email back arguing price and saying they won't pay it unless I drop the price 3) A sweet apology that they can't do it right now (this would be the rarest of the emails, however, it is the most appreciated!)

I understand that in today's economy, that scrap booking pages and albums are truly a luxury purchase. I also understand that everyone is trying to get the most for their money. Aren't we all?

Here is the side I would like you to try to understand.

I am a crafter by trade. I scrapbook for fun and I scrapbook for a living. I need to be home with my family taking care of them and our home, and this is the working relationship that works best for us and our family's needs. Although I get to be home with them, I still spend 30-40 hours a week designing, planning, cutting, hand-cutting at times, and piecing together pages, albums and projects. Pretty much a full time job. Sometimes, ALL of that time is spent on just one album. Sometimes all of that time is spent on just 4-6 pages.

When it comes to my work, I do not cut corners! I only buy the best papers, metal embellishments, adhesives and so on. I take my work seriously, I go over every detail and I know I am not the only crafter who does this. I am simply just one of many who are in this "crafter's boat", if you will. What is minimum wage these days? I honestly do not know. From what I see and know, is it about $7 per hour. Maybe I should look it up... okay, according to US Dept of Labor, the minimum wage is $6.55 hour. The average person making M.W. makes $262 for a 40 hour work week BEFORE taxes, etc. Wow. that doesn't leave a lot for the bring home amount, does it? The average spread, (2) 12X12 pages together, takes me 8-12 hours to design and put together. {There have been a handful that have taken me closer to 16. I keep track for how long it takes to make each.} So let's say I am in "The Zone" and get one done in just 8 hours and I charge $6.55 per hour. That is $52.40. That doesn't even include the materials cost for that spread, that is just my time. Keep that in mind. I actually charge a set fee of $45 for a custom spread. There is extra time and steps that go into each project, like custom names, dates and details. Now, divide $45 by 8. I am making about $5.63 an hour, and then, not even that much because that doesn't include the cost I have already paid for the materials! That is JUST my time. At the end of each custom spread, I am only making about $2-$3 per hour. (REMEMBER, that is only if it took me just the 8 hours, any longer than that and it brings my hourly wage down even more.) That is not a lot for my time, for my design and hard work when it is spelled out that way. What do you think?

Please keep these things in mind when shopping sites like Etsy.com, Ebay.com and personal websites. We crafters put our all into our craft. Each design, every piece is a part our personality and we take a lot of time to put it all together.

I think that everyone, no matter who you are and what you do, wants to have their work appreciated and they don't want others to make them feel that what they are paid for their time and talent isn't worth it. I think my time and talent is worth what little I ask for it. Remember that when you see hand crafted items, time, talent and effort was put into each project. Think about how much time it would take you to do something like that if you were to personally make it, think of professional crafting as some one's career and think about how truly little, the time making it is actually charged for.

Thank you. °Ü°

"Snow Boardin"

"Ariel"

"Alyssa's 6th Birthday"

"Me & My Dad"

"Minnie and Me"

"My Sweet Girl"

"Berry Sweet"

"So Berry Cute"

"Like a Circle, a Mother's Love Knows No End"

"Puppy Love"

"Some Bunny Loves You"

"Easter Fun"

"Snow Day"

"Beach"

"Happy Halloween"

"Bowling: Eat, Sleep, Bowl"

"Bath Time Fun"

"Baby Boy"

"A Bundle of Joy, Our Baby Boy"

"Goofy"

"Kitty Cat"

"Doggie"

"Summer Time Fun"

"Santa and Me"

"You Are Out of This World!"

"Our Baby Boy"

"I'd Rather Be Skiing!"

"I ♥ My Teddy"

"The Pick of the Patch"

"Happy Hallween"

"Beware of Ghosts and Goblins"

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"

"Sittin' in the Pumpkin Patch"

"Back to School"

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

"Give Thanks"

Visits from All Over! Thank You °Ü°

Visits to My Blog

A Little Bit More About Me:

Hello! Well, first and foremost, I am a wife and a mother. When I was a little girl, all I wanted to be was mom and I am living my dream. I am married to a wonderful man, who also happens to be my best friend. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for him! We have 2 beautiful daughters who bring so much joy to our lives. I am so grateful for all they have taught me. They have also become wonderful scrappin’ buddies for me. We have lots of fun scrappin’, card making and just creating fun paper projects. This time I spend with them I will always treasure, because we have the best talks, the silliest talks and usually laugh and laugh until the early hours of the morning!

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As a family, we love to travel to see our extended family. We love Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm and go whenever the chance arises. We love to read, all of us, but our youngest daughter is the true book worm of the family. We also love going to movies, buying movies and snuggling up on the couches to watch movies! I especially love the classics with Audrey Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. They are my favorite actors.

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Our oldest daughter and I share a love for capturing life’s moments on film. My love for taking pictures developed when I was just a young girl. {Pardon the pun!} My love for scrapbooking and preserving came early in life, too. On my 10th birthday, my mother gave me a journal. That journal became my first scrapbook. Not only did I write down the deepest desires of my heart, but I glued down photos of friends and family, tickets to Disneyland, handouts I got at church and school. If I had something that helped to visualized what I was writing about, it went into that journal! To this day, I love going back and looking at all the keepsakes I put in it.

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I love taking photos and too many of them! I am always trying to find a way to treasure and remember, not only the milestones, but the everyday moments. For me, to scrapbook is to journal, visually. My scrapbooks are a way for my posterity to look back on my life and the lives of our ancestors and have a photo, something visual to go with all the stories.

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In 2004, I began selling pre-made scrapbook albums, spreads and layouts on Ebay. It was a fun way for me to make extra money for our family. It has also given me the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people around the globe. I have been given the opportunity to ship my pages and albums to several countries and have had lots of the buyers return to purchase more pages for the memory albums. I have often felt humble and thankful for so many who deemed my work worthy for displaying their precious photos. I would like to thank everyone who has purchased and placed an order with me. Each new project has given me the chance to improve upon and master this craft!

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This blog is compilation of one of my life’s passions. I hope that all who stop here will be inspired and will find it helpful in building their own precious memory albums for future generations to enjoy.

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Happy Scrappin’ to All of You!

ALL IMAGES ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE AVID SCRAPPER. PLEASE DO NOT COPY MY WORK FOR RESALE. THANK YOU. Simple theme. Powered by Blogger.